B.M.A.

The British Military Administration (B.M.A.) was set up for the British reoccupied territories in 1945. Within its short operational period of 6 months after recolonising Malaya Singapore, the B.M.A. imported ‘medical opium’ and it soon exploded into a considerable illegal drug trade with 50 million grains (3.2 ton) entering the country.

Opium contributed about 40 to 60 percent of the colonial government’s annual revenue and it remained a key pillar of the fiscal system right into the 20th century. There were estimated around 30,000 of habitual opium smokers, mostly Chinese coolies, when the British returned after the war. The coolies had back-breaking laborious jobs with little family support and scarce entertainment. The addictive and expensive opium smoking became a form of escape from their harsh realities.

‘B.M.A.’ responses to the extraction and exploitation from the poorest of British Malaya and the Battlebox as a British-built bunker of concealed shame.

Media: Motor, fish hook, steel cable, latex, wood, acrylic, digital print, projection, aluminium profile
Dimensions: 2 (W) x 2 (H) x 4 (L) m  

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